Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

''I can't believe they named a series of goddamned airships after you, and are all intent onto landing into my territory.''

''Bad choice of words, my sister.''

Apollo smirked as he watched a live launch of the Apollo 11 from Hephaestus TV. He tried his best to ignore the burning expression his sister was giving him from the other side of the couch.

Only Apollo and Artemis was watching the launch of the Apollo 11, due to the fact that the other gods couldn't have cared less about the mortals and their rockets. They'd figured that they would fail, which would be true as that the moon was not even an object, merely what science and what the human minds determine as.. whatever they thought it was.

But mainly, it was because Artemis lost a bet against Apollo, which led to a lot of unnecessary glares from his sister. (and a lot of bruises on his left shoulder).

His sister started silently fuming over the other side of the couch. Apollo knew better than to disturb his sister, but he was her brother. Brothers were meant to annoy the Hades outta their sisters.

He decided to make the (admittedly stupid) decision to scoot over to her side of the couch, and (very stupidly) leaned against her. Artemis made an annoyed expression at him, but her eyes had a comforting spark that he hadn't seen in forever. (and as a god, forever did mean forever.)

Apollo nearly didn't even remember a time when he and his sister were so relaxed, and actually enjoyed each other's presence. He'd never seen her this content… in forever, really. He was glad that they weren't bickering, screaming at each other or worse, threatening to hurt each other through the people each other care about because of their arguments.

Like Orion…

Crap. He shouldn't have gone onto that topic. His mind was open — basically, he was able to be read by anybody — or most notably, Artemis, whom he was leaning against. He stole a glance towards Artemis, whom, thankfully, was still staring at the screen.

He must've tensed, though, because a second later Artemis was looking at him quizzically. ''You okay?''

Apollo tried to put on his facade: his boastful, seemingly ego-inflated attitude and being overly prideful: ''Nothing. Why wouldn't I be?'' It was a desperate attempt to cover up the prohibited thought about Orion he had earlier — After the… incident, Apollo made a promise to himself never to let himself think about it again. Crap.. Crap.. Crap! He forgot to shut his mind yet again, and with Artemis staring at him right now, there was surely no way she couldn't know about the… subject he was dwelling on.

Artemis sighed, and draped her arm over his shoulder in a protective sisterly-type of way. Apollo seemed to be taken aback; Honestly, she'd surprised herself as well — she'd never reached out to Apollo in centuries.

''Apollo, I know what you're thinking about. And to be truthful to you and myself; It doesn't matter. We may are two halves of one whole, but it doesn't mean that you can't think of that certain subject just because. You don't let yourself dwell on that subject — you're doing it for yourself, not for me.''

''W-what?'' he stuttered as her words processed through his mind. His facade fell instantaneously. But, he knew that Artemis' words held truth behind them— he is the god of Truth, after all. But it was more than that.

''I know you, Apollo. We're brothers and sisters after all— twins. You hate yourself for shooting Orion. You regret it.'' Artemis chuckled humourlessly. ''Sometimes... I do too, for letting you shoot him— heck, getting tricked into shooting him.'' Apollo instinctively flinched at the end of the sentence. He didn't mean to. It was just his instincts. But still, he knew that he was making excuses.

The Apollo 11 was about to launch in two minutes- the mortals showing a countdown on a neon board, chanting to it as the numbers descended. The screen had went unnoticed by the twins long ago.

Artemis ignored the screen and continued. ''I don't need your mind to be open for me to be able to read you, Apollo. We've… we've both done wrong. You in… being protective;'' she said hesitantly, though, Apollo knew that 'protective' was just a code word for 'tricking-me-into-killing-him'.

''And I in…'' Her voice cracked, and Apollo couldn't help but regret bringing up the subject in his subconscious in the first place. ''… in killing him.''

Apollo couldn't help himself—instead of going for the safer option, he chose the (even more stupid) decision to snuggle closer to Artemis. She instinctively stiffened, not used to humane, physical contact even after all this time, but relaxed after a few seconds.

''I'm sorry,'' he whispered, tracing his fingers over her scarred palm, touching the lasting mark of the imprint of where she drew the bowstring taut. Artemis immediately tensed once his fingers met yet another scar on her palm, ''I know I can't apologize for what I've done, and I know that you can't forgive me… but I want you to know, that I'm sorry.''

The unspoken words lingered in the air. For murdering Orion. For tricking you into shooting your beloved. For using you.

Apollo winced at the last statement. But it was true. He did use Artemis, trick his sister into doing his bidding, tricked her to do his dirty work for him by utilising his convincing lies (for that, whilst he was the God of Truth, there was only a thin, impossibly thin line between lies and truths, as there were with love and hatred… and he felt that those words described the Orion situation all-too-much), to force her into shooting her lover.

And then he lied to himself, told himself that it was for both Artemis and Orion's good (but mainly Artemis), ignored his sister's feelings on this particular situation and pretended that he was right, all along.

He wasn't there for the aftermath, wasn't there to see how much he'd cost of his sister, the extent of the damage he'd done… and when Artemis stopped talking to him entirely after that, he despised himself, because of it.

And he had apologized then, but didn't really mean it — no, not really. He didn't care for Orion's unfair death — just cared for himself, and his sister. It was selfish of him, he knew. But how could he not?

Apollo forced a hollow laugh. How many times had he said sorry, but knowing, deep within, that he didn't mean it? As Artemis swiveled her head towards him, glancing at him curiously, he grinned, and wore that facade once more. ''I'm a protective bastard sometimes, aren't I?''

But despite the matter of Orion, despite hatred that they've endured, despite his inner thoughts, despite everything, Artemis broke into a small smile. ''No. You always are.''

They sat there contently as the mortals hollered the last word and the Apollo 11 shot off into space.

fin.

A/N: Took me about half a year, but finally finished this short piece that was sitting amongst my files.

Hope you've enjoyed! If you did, then please leave a comment below. :)